Customer Reviews
not as good as the first - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 
dissapointing sequel that has three things going for it 1)johnny depp 2) the cannibal bit 3) the sea monster
Pirates Of The Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest - By: K. Holland, 03 Feb 2008 
Pirates Of The Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest is the most disappointing movie I have watched it was obviously made to cash in on the unexpected success of the first movie. It has some ridiculous characters & it just gets so silly as to be pathetic- if you enjoyed the first movie you are bound to be disappointed by this & if you hated the first movie you will loathe this pathetic effort. sucks........for very, very smalll children only.
Not as good as the first - By: C. Plant, 09 Oct 2007 
I thought this film was nowhere near as good as the first one. There didn't seem to be a strong enough plot.
Johnny Depp seems to have to live upto alll the hype created in the first film & I think he tries a little too hard.
With the budget for this film I was expecting something better.
Appealing 'at sea movie', if not a little too piratey - By: Ben Le Pensive, 14 Sep 2007 
Now, calll me old fashioned but I watched this before the original version, purely on the grounds that this one had Johnny Depp in it. He has always been one of my preferred actors, ranking alongside Terrence Mann & Tobin Bell.
This lavish sequel is supposed to follow on from where the first film left off, although it feels more like a prequel to me & I would argue against it being a true sequel.
Despite the title, the film was not shot in the Carribean, but in Moscow, where production values were a lot cheaper & extras would work for bread or a blanket. Many of the extras had little or no acting experience & if one listens carefully you can hear the odd bit of Russian dialgue in the background.
Reprising his role as Edward Hawthorn is Orlando Bloom, who is insufficient in his role. Bloom was simultaneously shooting LOTR at the time this film was in production, starring as the forest elf Pegasus. It is fair to say he delivers poor performances in both pictures & is not a weighty actor. Interestingly, his part in 'Pirates' nearly went to the late Oliver Reed, but Bloom won on the grounds that Reed had died during the filming of 'Gladiator' some years previously.
The highlight is the music score by Hans Gruber, which is rousing & energetic; it made me thrust several times in my chair & commanded my obedience at every arrival.
This film is soon to be released on DVD, but I shalll be waiting for the tv version as I understand there will be a whole new ending tagged on where one of the principle characters dies.
Not Dead Man's Best - By: Eddie, 03 Sep 2007 From hunting mice to hunting a compass on the high seas. Gore Verbinski's Mousehunt was an enjoyable romp which had characters who made it fun. These two elements are desparately lacking from Dead Mans Chest & as a result it pitches completely over the side. The big screen doesn't see much of seafaring films & although there have been one or two attempts to revitalise the genre, it's never reallly happened, which is pity.
I came into this series with this, the second instalment, on the strength of my daughter telling me that I didn't need to see the first one. Fair enough. She was right, but as it turned out, I didn't need to see this one either. It's one of those films which you just know is going to be a duffer even after three minutes. After forty five minutes the film was still struggling to find any direction, not knowing whether it was comedy or drama & from then on, things got worse. The plot has alll the control of a headless chicken & sloppy directing & poor pacing give the film the feel of a sixth form play. That's not a criticism of school drama but we are talking blockbuster here.
Cliches abound, although there do seem to be nods towards other films: The Crimson Pirate, Indiana Jones (see below), Apocalypse Now (surely not), as well as the work of Terry Gilliam. Monty Python? Star Wars. Or perhaps I was looking a little too deeply. And there's the problem; I never reallly knew what I was watching. OK, you may say, why not just watch it for what it is? But that's what I'm saying - what is it?
I soon began to doubt Gore Verbinski's abilty to direct; certainly his strongest scenes are the action set pieces, but even these desparately need a more expert hand. Spielberg came to mind here. With Indiana Jones he has cast a mould in the action department which it seems, cannot be broken although many have tried. And failed, as Verbinski certainly has.
Action needs characterisation to make it work & Verbinski has also failed to give his characters any real sense of purpose with the result that most of them don't appear to give a damn about the film at alll. With the material which they have to work with though, that's not surprising. I'm sure that a little bit of direction would have done the trick.
Johnny Depp, who manages to be both a star & an actor who is able imbue his characters with great depth & sensitivity, simply employs facial tics, grimaces & a funny walk & is just...well, daft. An utterly pointless character who fails to command any screen presence at alll. Johnny cannot be proud of this performance surely, but he does a very good English accent. That's got to be worth one star.
And the second? Well, I think that just leaving it at one would make me appear meaner that bloke with the tentacles. Yeah, Bill Nighy, he was pretty good.
